We spent a very pleasant day and night in Arrowtown, a small village which looks like something out of the Wild West. Little wonder when you know it was originally settled as a gold-mining town in the 1860s, following the discovery of gold in the Arrow River (after they'd been initially drawn to the Shotover). As James mentioned, a lot of the prospectors came from Australia, but there was also a sizable contingent of Chinese men in search of their fortune. We visited the Chinese settlement, a little row of houses just outside of town, which has been partly reconstructed by the local tourist association. It's a pretty depressing place – the Chinese were hugely ostracised by the European community and 1 in 7 died as a result of their poor living conditions. That said, their resilience in the face of such hostile circumstances is pretty staggering: the last Chinese man living in the settlement survived until 1925.
I'd heard a lot about Arrowtown from James, largely in relation to the amazing time he had there with Eddie at the cinema. To be fair, it was pretty darn good: a boutique arthouse cinema with only two screens, offering comfortable sofa chairs, bottles of wine and cheese platters during the intermission. All very civilised. We watched Harry Brown. Great film, but much darker and more harrowing than I was expecting. As a result (and probably also as a consequence of the half bottle of red wine I'd drunk during the film), I was feeling so maudlin on the journey home that I had to watch the first half of 3 Men and a Little Lady to cheer myself up before going to bed.
From Arrowtown we journeyed on to Wanaka, the jumping off point for the Cardrona and Treble Cone ski resorts. With my thumb and the weather both working against us, there was no more snowboarding in store, which left us at something of a loose end. Just as well really, as our wine consumption at the cinema had left us both with slightly fuzzy heads and an inclination for a 'sofa day.' This we indulged with hot chocolates at a local cafe, and a gentle walk around Lake Wanaka, along with four episodes of Lost whilst sipping tea in the van. I really wanted to go to Puzzlingworld, a local attraction boasting 3D puzzles and a 'visual maze.' But James said no. So I have no idea whether it was any good. I imagine it was probably pretty awesome.
We spent a very pleasant day and night in Arrowtown, a small village which looks like something out of the Wild West. Little wonder when you know it was originally settled as a gold-mining town in the 1860s, following the discovery of gold in the Arrow River (after they'd been initially drawn to the Shotover). As James mentioned, a lot of the prospectors came from Australia, but there was also a sizable contingent of Chinese men in search of their fortune. We visited the Chinese settlement, a little row of houses just outside of town, which has been partly reconstructed by the local tourist association. It's a pretty depressing place – the Chinese were hugely ostracised by the European community and 1 in 7 died as a result of their poor living conditions. That said, their resilience in the face of such hostile circumstances is pretty staggering: the last Chinese man living in the settlement survived until 1925.
I'd heard a lot about Arrowtown from James, largely in relation to the amazing time he had there with Eddie at the cinema. To be fair, it was pretty darn good: a boutique arthouse cinema with only two screens, offering comfortable sofa chairs, bottles of wine and cheese platters during the intermission. All very civilised. We watched Harry Brown. Great film, but much darker and more harrowing than I was expecting. As a result (and probably also as a consequence of the half bottle of red wine I'd drunk during the film), I was feeling so maudlin on the journey home that I had to watch the first half of 3 Men and a Little Lady to cheer myself up before going to bed.
From Arrowtown we journeyed on to Wanaka, the jumping off point for the Cardrona and Treble Cone ski resorts. With my thumb and the weather both working against us, there was no more snowboarding in store, which left us at something of a loose end. Just as well really, as our wine consumption at the cinema had left us both with slightly fuzzy heads and an inclination for a 'sofa day.' This we indulged with hot chocolates at a local cafe, and a gentle walk around Lake Wanaka, along with four episodes of Lost whilst sipping tea in the van. I really wanted to go to Puzzlingworld, a local attraction boasting 3D puzzles and a 'visual maze.' But James said no. So I have no idea whether it was any good. I imagine it was probably pretty awesome.
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